okay, its me again from austria.
still, my blue dr 800 has no spark and since i have another sr42 now, i checked pretty much everything and compared it between the running and the non running Big´s.
one thing, that has slipt through my mind until now has been the ignition coil. or the ignition coils, because there are 2 of them and i had no spark on any spark plug. that made me believe that they can´t be the problem. until now. i worked through my workshop manual and when it came to test the ignition coils, i realized, that one of them is broken. but that is still wierd, cause i don´t get a spark on the other coil aswell. just a coincidence or is there a connection?

and on another topic, i hope i will leave the cold and snowy alps behind me this winter and ride south into tunisia. has anyone of you ever riden the dr on sand dunes?

No African dunes but have ridden the sandy trails in the Nevada desert in the USA.

- Good knobbies are a must. Any street/road oriented tire will leave you frustrated and pushing the bike...the Bigs are heavy.

- Make certain she's full off high quality synthetic oil. Low speed, high rpm riding in warm temps will tax your engine cooling. Check oil level after EVERY ride cause the bike will use some.

- Have a way to adjust air pressure easily in the middle of the ride. Reduce for sand, increase for pavement and sand mixed with rocks.

Go for about 2mm of "Clean Rim" when messing with air pressures. But be careful of tire "creep" if you're not using rim-locks. Remove the nut from the valve stems so you can see the stem moving over at an angle first.....rather than tearing the stem off the tube.

- Make sure your bike is comfortable when standing up. Weight way to the rear - steer with your feet. Some guys find the rubber mounted pegs on the Bigs a problem here. You can temporarily defeat these with the creative use of a few washers and longer mounting bolts.

- Speed is your friend. Riding sand at 20kph will have you falling down alot.

- Cresting rises and dune tops at an angle is easier (at least at first) since it reduces the "Ohhhhhh Shit" factor when going down the other side

Expect to be a bit frustrated for the first 10 miles or so....then it's fun but don't get so carried away that you forget to watch cylinder head temp or any signs of overheating.

I wonder if a better prepared Big with a better rider (no offense here) would have made it further? It kinda made me sad that he had to quit.

thats a great story. i guess in the end its just a question of power to weight ratio. the big is to heavy for 50hp. and after all its basically a road bike with limited off road capabilities. more power (and cooling) and a tuned suspension would help heaps here.

The weight is the problem, once you loose speed your had it, and where is all this road bike crap coming from are you that blind if you park it beside a road bike you carn,t see the difference fair dinkam .

__________________
I ride alone and not a KTM in sight .
Menace Racing supported by Robmoto Industries

I'm narrowing my next bike choice down and number one on the list is a DR Big. The price is right, they're available (although in fairly limited supply), they're funky enough etc etc. I'm up to page 50 in this thread and I've a lot of pages to go so if this is 205 my apologies :)

So, intro done, question time;
Right now I'm wondering what the differences, just the big ones, are between a SR42 and an SR43.
Is it worth hanging on for one model over the other?
Is there a buyer's guide buried in this thread that I've not found so far?

I'm narrowing my next bike choice down and number one on the list is a DR Big. The price is right, they're available (although in fairly limited supply), they're funky enough etc etc. I'm up to page 50 in this thread and I've a lot of pages to go so if this is 205 my apologies :)

So, intro done, question time;
Right now I'm wondering what the differences, just the big ones, are between a SR42 and an SR43.
Is it worth hanging on for one model over the other?
Is there a buyer's guide buried in this thread that I've not found so far?

i have 2 sr42´s, and what i can tell you is, that they are very rare here in austria, so getting used parts is a PITA. i was looking for a second sr42 for a long time and found one this august in upper austria. i paid 1000euros for it, needed new battery and tyres.
i´m no expert on the sr43, but AFAIK the main difference is a smaller fuel tank, auto-decomp and the new styling.
for me, some must do´s are steel brake lines and tuned suspenison in the front with fork brace.

The weight is the problem, once you loose speed your had it, and where is all this road bike crap coming from are you that blind if you park it beside a road bike you carn,t see the difference fair dinkam .

well i guess we have a different take on offroad bikes. here where i live, its not allowed to ride off the paved road. there are a few exceptions, and working on a farm here helps too, but gravel roads are usually prohibited. that limits the big here in austria and europe in general to the tarmac. cause all the offroad parks are made for super light exc´s or wr´s and so on. and like i said, it has offroad capabilities, but they are limited. my bigs are parked next to a ducati and a buell. so i see your point, there is a difference. but its also parked next to my husky dirt bike...and there is a difference aswell.

i have 2 sr42´s, and what i can tell you is, that they are very rare here in austria, so getting used parts is a PITA. i was looking for a second sr42 for a long time and found one this august in upper austria. i paid 1000euros for it, needed new battery and tyres.
i´m no expert on the sr43, but AFAIK the main difference is a smaller fuel tank, auto-decomp and the new styling.
for me, some must do´s are steel brake lines and tuned suspenison in the front with fork brace.

Except weight and stock exhaust and tank size and styling everything else about SR42 not worth chosing over SR43.
SR43 have different 43 mm (instead of 41 on SR42) forks that actually work quite well for such old bike and much better than SR41 and 42 forks.
SR43 have 300 mm front brake disk
SR43 have 5 mm longer wheelbase and slightly beefier swingarm (early sr42 vs sr43)
SR43 have reinforced frame that quite a bit more rigid than SR42
SR43 have full-blown system (mechanical and electronics) to prevent back-turn of engine and damage to parasite starter gear.
SR43 have 4 more BHP but only in unrestricted version - for example Belgium, France, Italy I think and Spain. German model sports few degrees different ignition map resulting in 50 bhp. Same for torque.
SR42 have 29 liter tank, SR43 have all different bodywork and 24 liter tank.
Late SR43 model have TPS.

The main weight difference is down to 14.5 kg stock exhaust on SR43 and 5 kg of taillights hardware - both can be easily removed. Suspension is better thou despite stroke down to 220 mm - which is more than sufficient if sprung correctly. If.

Parts for SR43 still available at Suzuki, so it is much easier to do than SR42. If you really want SR42 styling - take SR43 and fit SR42 "clothes" on it. Been done, totally possible.

thanks to both of you :) really helpful information :) lots to comprehend.

I'd not seen that 800 link Seppo, thanks for the link. I was only aware of 1000ps.at so now I've two more :). Am hoping to in March/April - no real value in buying before then, as much as I'd like it. It'd sit, covered in snow, more than it got ridden.

Hello catweasel and Seppo,
looking for details of and differences between SR 41, 42 and 43 you could also spy at the German site www.dr-big.de
Tons of Big-reading there ...
Kind regards into the neighbourhood, Bambi - from Linz on the Rhine

Hello catweasel and Seppo,
looking for details of and differences between SR 41, 42 and 43 you could also spy at the German site www.dr-big.de
Tons of Big-reading there ...
Kind regards into the neighbourhood, Bambi - from Linz on the Rhine

thanks Bambi :) now all I need to do is learn German and I'm away (am only at the ÓSD A1 level right now - der, die, das beer bitte) but, for now, pictures and google translate :p